In Part 1 of this blog series we are going to look at some key terms and then explain why this Blog series has come about. Fortunate for me I work for a company, Worldwide Trophy Adventures, that helps people draw limited entry big game tags. They take the guess work out of all of this and have devoted tons of resources to helping individuals draw tags for species all across the United States. It takes a lot of time to understand the process. If you’re not sure what I am talking about then here are some key words and meanings that may help you understand what I am talking about.
Limited Entry means a designated area where a certain species harvest is limited to a certain number of permits every year. Just as an example, the county you live in hosts a drawing for 20 permits that would allow a person to hunt for a whitetail buck during a certain set of dates. Obviously there are states where its as simple as this and then there are places where its much more complex. We will get into that later.
Draw means very simply that someone or an organization is going to pic a winner out of a list of entires and that person will be awarded a permit.
Tag is just another word for a permit that allows the harvest of an animal by a specific designated mean or method.
Points or Preference Points are the unit of measure that some states use to give a person after a failed attempt to draw a limited entry tag or that a person can purchase to increase their odds of drawing a limited entry tag.
Odds are the percentage that a person may draw a tag for example if you have one entry and then there are 100 other applicants you have a 1/100 odds or 1% draw odds.
Lottery is where a person pays for entry into a pool of entries and the organization selects a winner at random. Lots of state agencies offer their own lottery’s to help fund conservation dollars in that state. A lottery drawing offer a chance at an amazing tag without a huge price tag. They also usually provide incentives and extra prizes like a rifle or optics.
This is not an exhaustive list of terms that may be used by any number of state game and fish agencies but it should help you understand the series of blogs I am about to publish. Stay tuned for the next blog.
Outdoor Jack 